a found poem: The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath
Great drops of broken light
fell on the street
as lightning rained down
from the clouds.
A restless wind flicked
the damp smell of mold
against the dazed air
and shadows fluttered
in the cracks in the pavement.
A hazy mist stirred
toying with all the people
walking the street.
Self-reviling, sick with longing
I sang to the full
blue moon. It seemed pregnant
with a grotesque
brilliance that I alone loved.
There was no peace
in the air—just the strange
fragile sound of decay.
a
Nazifa Islam is the author of the poetry collections Searching for a Pulse (Whitepoint Press, 2013) and Forlorn Light: Virginia Woolf Found Poems (Shearsman Books, 2021). Her poems have appeared in Boston Review, Gulf Coast, The Believer, and Beloit Poetry Journal among other publications. She earned her MFA at Oregon State University. You can find her @nafoopal.
© 2021, Nazifa Islam
Halfway Down the Stairs 